While most of the reports coming out of the Middle East today focus on Iran’s threatened closure of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the EU’s new sanctions, the Iranian regime is busy getting ready for the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ Twelfth Imam Mahdi. Iran’s religious leaders believe that the return of the Mahdi is near and that he appears at the time of Armageddon. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has therefore been holding secret meetings with both his economic and military advisors in preparation for a possible war with the US. Apparently, an elite military corps, called “Soldiers of Imam Mahdi,” is being formed and tasked with providing security and protecting the regime against any uprisings. It would seem that the regime is still smarting over the protests and rioting that took place after the 2009 election of Ahmadinejad. This potential problem must be dealt with and it is reported that Khamenei has charged his advisors to tighten up on anyone who opposes or might oppose the regime in case of war. Another “Arab Spring” and western influence are certainly not welcomed here. The plan by the leader calls for total control of Tehran, the capital where the presence of the Basij and Hezbollah militias would be quite visible so that no one would dare to challenge the regime. Also today a Hizballah cell backed by intelligence from Tehran and external Iranian terror cells in Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, was captured in Baku on Jan. 19 by Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry (MNS) officers as it was about to launch a series of attacks on the Israeli embassy, Chief Rabbi Shneor Segal and Rabbi Mati Lewis at the Habad center and visiting Israeli personages. The cell leader was an Iranian by the name of Balaqardash Dadashov who arrived in Azerbaijan with a file full of photos of targeted Israelis, plans and maps as well as $9,300 cash to cover operational expenses. For now Iran remains the top problematic nation of the Middle East.

“Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.” Proverbs 28:14

One of the outcomes of the “Arab Spring” uprisings has been a substantial rise in the persecution of Christians as well as Jews. While people like Hillary Clinton argued that bringing democratic freedom to the Middle East would greatly lessen or even eliminate regional Muslim hatred for the democratic West, and in particular for Christians and the Jews. However, that theory failed to pass the test as dictators fell and Islamists took over the governments. In fact, the truth was 180 degrees from what the public was told. Egypt is a prime example today after their first free election, since the US helped force out Hosni Mubarak, it has been confirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist al-Nour Party will control the Egyptian Legislature. The Salafist al-Nour Party is even more radical that the Brotherhood. This puts these two groups in the position of exercising immense influence over both the selection and the decisions of a 100-person committee tasked with drafting the Egyptian Constitution. Also in the past month, there has been a new wave of increased violence targeting Iranian and Syrian Christians. In addition, Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been on death row since 2010 for seeking to register his home-based church, refused to renounce his Christian beliefs in exchange for his release from prison. He was also jailed for questioning the role of Islam as the dominant form of religious instruction in his children’s school. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Christian Post wrote last week on its website, “The Christian community in Syria has been hit by a series of kidnappings and brutal murders; 100 Christians have now been killed since the anti-government unrest began. “Of course Assad is using the power of fear to manipulate the Christians. He is directing the bishops and patriarchs to say what suits him,” Pascal Gollnisch, a Catholic priest and director of l’Oeuvre d’Orient, told the French news organization F24 in December. Christians make up ten percent of Syria’s population of 22 million. Clifford D. May, the president of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former New York Times reporter, has long argued the persecution of Christians in numerous Muslim-majority countries is the most pressing news story ignored by the mainstream media. He told the Post “If the situation were reversed, if such a war were being waged against Muslims, it would be the top story in every newspaper, the most urgent item at the UN, the highest priority of all the big-league human-rights groups.”

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10

This past week Iran has been front and center most of the week. Despite Iran’s threatening talk about closing the Strait of Hormuz and sending Republican Guards Qods Brigades against its enemies in the Gulf Region the US and Israeli relationship has been stretched almost to the breaking point. President Obama had previously issued a demand for Israel not to attack Iran under any circumstance and to inform Washington of any plans to do so. He even sent the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, to Jerusalem this week to personally convey the same message again to Prime Minister Netanyahu. This was after Netanyahu had already responded to Obama in a phone conversation, telling him that he was not in agreement with the White House demands and would deal with Iran in the best interests of Israel and would not inform Washington of their plans. It would appear that Obama is trying to frustrate any plans Israel has to defend itself against those who would like to completely eliminate the Jews. Bill Wilson shares my concern about President Obama and has written an article which I think is quite good and I want to share it with you today.

The prophetic Middle East leap created by the White House

The man who occupies the Oval Office has created a game changing prophetic leap in the Middle East that may well have set America’s course in prophetic eschatology. Christian and Jewish eschatology speak of the Day of the Lord where the Bible plainly prophesies that Arab/Islamic nations attack Israel and Israel is saved by the Messiah, the Christ, in an end time battle that ushers in the Millennial Reign of Christ. There are many current events that point to this eschatology being set up by the actions of leaders of many nations. The support and acceptance by the White House of the Muslim Brotherhood is a major prophetic and eschatological step that has tremendous consequences.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s advance to establish a worldwide Sharia-based caliphate has been catalyzed by the White House. The Administration throwing its support behind the Muslim Brotherhood in what was called the Arab Spring has resulted in Islamists using democracy to take over Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen. Additionally, there is strife in Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia that is either a direct or a collateral affect of advancing the Muslim Brotherhood plan. This destabilization of the Middle East has created an even more hostile environment for Israel by legitimizing Islamic control through democracy and by energizing Islamic terror groups in Israel–Hamas, al Qaeda, Hezbollah and others.
It is well known that Muslim Brotherhood operatives hold positions at the highest levels of US government. Starting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin, whose ties to the Muslim Brotherhood are undeniable, and continuing with Islamic appointments within the departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The Administration apparently is banking on a theory that the Muslim Brotherhood will help isolate Iran, as the Muslim Brotherhood is Sunni and Iran is largely Shiite. The Muslim Brotherhood plan as revealed in the Holy Land Foundation terror trial in Texas, however, indicates that it will unify all Muslims under a worldwide Caliphate, similar to the Ottoman Empire.
Islamic eschatology has its Mahdi returning to earth to establish a seven year worldwide rule of Islamic peace. Islam’s version of Jesus (Isa) is to be the Mahdi’s prophet in leading Jews and Christians to Islam. Islam’s eschatology is strikingly similar to the Biblical antichrist. Indeed, Islam denies the deity of Christ. 2 John 7 says, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” And Zechariah 12:9 speaks of the day of the Lord, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” America has played the eschatological catalyst with its Middle East policy. Its final place in prophecy is yet to be determined.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is solidly holding the line by not giving in to Washington’s demand that Israel not attack Iran despite intense personal pressure from President Obama. He further gave instructions to his subordinates, before leaving for a short trip to Holland, concerning their conduct and comments during US General Martin Dempsey’s first visit to Israel next week. It seems that Netanyahu’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, made an earlier statement that Tehran had not yet decided to go nuclear, without passing it by his boss for approval. Last night, Jan. 19th, Netanyahu tried to clear the air by declaring that Iran had decided to become a nuclear state. Gen. Dempsey begins his visit to Israel as the new US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Obama’s messenger-boy carrying the White House instructions for how Netanyahu and Israel are to treat Iran. Israel is absolutely not to attack Iran under any circumstances and will keep Washington informed of their every move relative to Iran. After the release of Netanyahu’s statement Obama personally called the Prime Minister to reiterate his demands once again. Netanyahu replied that do to their disagreement on this subject he was cancelling the biggest US/Israeli war games ever, scheduled for the spring. It appears that Obama is pulling out all the stops to insure that he will not be taken by a surprise Israeli attack in the middle of his campaign for re-election. The Israeli Prime Minister is convinced, contrary to the claims by US spokesmen and media, that current sanctions are ineffective insofar as slowing Iran’s advance toward a nuclear weapon and the harsher sanctions on Iran’s central bank and oil exports are too slow and will take hold too late to achieve their purpose. This comes at a time when the Obama administration is backtracking again by signaling Tehran a willingness to go back to direct negotiations with the Iranian regime even though diplomatic dialogue has yet to produce any results. The major concern over negotiations is that Iran will use them as a cover to bring their nuclear weapons program to a conclusion, unhindered by economic constraints. Is Obama about to lose another foreign policy battle?

“May He give you [Jacob] and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.” Genesis 28:4

It seems that Iran is now intent on conducting numerous terror activities against its Arab rivals as well as the US. All of Iran’s most recent activities have been directed at protecting its oil supplies from foreign intervention or attack by controlling who can enter the Persian Gulf. Now they are threatening to send Iranian Al Qods cells into Turkey, Saudi Arabia and US facilities in the region. At the same time Iran is trying to blackmail the European nations which currently buy Iranian oil. It seems Iran took Saudi Arabia’s bid to compensate an oil shortage that might emerge upon an embargo on Iran to be ‘unfriendly,’ according to local reports. Iran is at the same time threatening the EU not to implement US sanctions of an oil embargo. “We invite Saudi officials to further reflect and consider” their offer to compensate for curbed Iranian oil exports, Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in an interview with Iran’s Arabic language broadcaster Al-Alam. He also attacked Saudi Oil Minister, Ali al-Naimi, comments to CNN, which said Saudi oil output could be boosted by around 2.6 million barrels per day – the same amount that Iran exports – and that the world will not permit Iran to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz. As expected oil prices rose after Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi also told CNN that Saudi Arabia wanted to stabilize prices at $100 a barrel this year and was ready to pump more oil if needed. One of the problems the Europeans, South Korea, the US and other oil importers must consider is the time required for Saudi Arabia to increase their production to satisfy the need to cover Iran’s output. Tuesday, Jan. 17, a US spokesman accused Tehran of deepening its involvement in the Syrian conflict. For the second time in a week, Washington disclosed that Al Qods Commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, had visited Damascus recently, confirming Iranian arms shipments for ensuring President Bashar Assad’s victory over the uprising against him. Intelligence sources report that another part of Soleimani’s Damascus mission was to synchronize the Al Qods cells’ strikes across the Middle East – in Turkey, Lebanon, Gaza and Sinai – with the same fervor as Assad’s crackdown on protesters. He also dealt with setting up terrorist attacks against Israeli targets. Additionally, sources in Ankara believe Tehran is kicking off its first round of Middle East terrorist operations in Turkey as punishment for consenting to the installation of a US radar station on its soil for the NATO shield against incoming Iranian missile attacks, in defiance of Iran’s warnings. The Erdogan government is also being penalized for actively supporting Syrian resistance to the Assad regime, especially the Free Syrian Army-SFA. The Iranians want to use Turkey as an example to show the US and their regional supporters what they can expect when the Qods Brigades are turned loose against them. According to the information relayed to Washington, Al Qods has already been placed on the alert for action, such as blowing up oil fields, oil pipelines and oil export terminals. Sadly, it will take an attack by Qods to prove that their threats are more than just political posturing. If the attacks do come, then the region could easily explode into an all-out conflict which would be very difficult to limit to just the Middle East.

“O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring an end to the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.” Psalm 7:9

If you had someone threatening to annihilate your whole family and your supposedly closest friend told you that you could not take any action to protect yourself, how would you feel? That is the exact position President Obama has placed Israel in. The president is accusing Israel of the recent killing of Iran’s nuclear scientist as his excuse for demanding that Israel does not strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. By so doing he places Israel in even greater danger of retaliatory attacks by Islamic terrorists. It is very obvious that Obama wants to “run the show” in the Middle East and does not want Israel “playing in his ballpark.” Obama, Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton are all turning up the heat by sending private messages to their Israeli contacts warning them about the dire consequences of a strike, according to the Wall Street Journal. Further, Obama is sending his top US armed forces Chief of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey to Israel this week to pressure the IDF leadership as well. This action of course is familiar to the Israeli government ever since Obama chose to restrict US-Israeli intelligence cooperation when he took office in 2009 and the relationship has been strained ever since. It is quite clear that the White House is signaling Jerusalem that it means to continue harassing and pressuring Israel by every means possible to restrict Israel from any military operations against Iran. As a result the Obama administration called off “Austere Challenge 12,” the biggest joint war game the US and Israel have every staged, which was planned to take place in the spring. This was in reprisal for a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early morning radio interview. He said the United States was hesitant over sanctions against Iran’s central bank and oil for fear of a spike in oil prices. By making public the truth about Obama being hesitant about finally enacting sanctions with a real bite, the administration has entered into the most acute time in the history of US-Israeli relations. The row between Washington and Jerusalem is now in the open, undoubtedly causing celebration in Tehran. However, nothing is being said about the 9,000 US troops which were sent to Israel neither earlier this month, nor the 15,000 US troops stationed in Kuwait. Also, the US Navy has positioned two of its aircraft carriers near the Persian Gulf, with a third carrier reported on the way. This massive military buildup indicates that either President Obama rates the odds of an Israel attack as high and is bolstering the defenses of US military assets against Iranian reprisals – or, alternatively, that the United States intends to beat Israel to the draw and attack Iran itself. Obama gets very angry when he is upstaged and he wants to be the one who makes all the decisions concerning military action in the region. Because of his past actions against Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, nor Defense Minister Ehud Barak or Deputy Prime Minster Yaalon, who are responsible for all decisions on Iran, are not willing to put all their trust for defending Israel in American hands or relinquish unilateral military options against Iran. They believe US officials when they assert that the administration is prepared to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, but they want to see proof of the pudding and actions to back up the rhetoric. In the light of credible intelligence that Iran is very close to achieving its nuclear goal, Israel is holding on to its military option over American objections and rightly so.

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” James 3:16

Please take the time to read all of the summary articles in this Focus for many are items not published in the liberal media of today. The Middle East has been a hotbed of activity this past week as the East and the West posture themselves for what could be the beginning of WW III. Iran has threatened to close off the Strait of Hormuz and requiring all ships to have their approval for entry into the Persian Gulf. They specifically told the US not to try to bring one of their aircraft carriers into the Gulf. The Obama administration bristled at Iran’s threat and started moving thousands of US troops into the region. US President Barack Obama is now busy aligning Middle East allies with the next US steps on Iran. Contributing to the mounting sense in Washington of an approaching US-Iranian confrontation, the Pentagon is substantially building up its combat power around Iran, stationing nearly 15,000 troops in Kuwait – two Army infantry brigades and a helicopter unit – and keeping two aircraft carriers in the region. The USS Carl Vinson, the USS John Stennis which was to have returned to home base and their strike groups will stay in the Arabian Sea. Iran is caught up in the same pre-war swirl of activity. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani commented: “We have different ways of doing things.” Iranian sources quote the Iranian official as telling his allies that his country is prepared to take on any military aggressors. One of the responses weighed in Tehran to meet the rising military pressure might be an open declaration of Iran as a nuclear power. DEBKA-Net-Weekly 528 disclosed exclusively on Nov. 25, 2011 that Iran may soon publicize its attainment of a nuclear weapon, a step still being debated intensely at the highest levels of the Islamic regime in Tehran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who will make the ultimate decision, is very much in favor of facing the world as a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic. He calculates that this fait accompli has a good change of warding off a Western and/or Israeli military attack. Thursday night, Jan. 12, President Obama put in a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss coordinating US and Israeli moves for a military operation against Iran, which many US media believe to be imminent. The coming week certainly has the possibility of being history changing week.

While much of the world has been watching Iran and the episode developing there, Bashar Assad has been busy continuing the defense of his position by killing more Syrian citizens. The situation had gotten so bad in Syria that not only did the Arab League condemn Assad’s brutal actions but also sent a delegation to Syria to personally observe what was truly going on. An Arab League observer, a member of the delegation has left Syria, saying he had witnessed “scenes of horror” that he was powerless to prevent and that the Arab monitoring team sent to the country was not acting independently. The Arab League monitoring mission, now about 165 strong, began work on Dec 26. Its task is to verify if Syria is complying with an agreement to halt a crackdown on 10 months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed. The leader of the delegation is a Sudanese General whose suitability for the role has been questioned by human rights groups due to his past activities in the conflict in Darfur. It seems the general wanted to be politically correct and not anger the Assad forces or the opposing rebels. Also this week, Syria’s dictator Bashar Assad, sent a very personal challenge to the world, taking his wife and young children on a filmed walkabout with cheering supporters as he promised to finish off the uprising against his rule. At a rally in Damascus Assad reiterated the central theme of his speech on Tuesday, his first since June, that the outside world would not stop him from seeking a military rather than negotiated end to the revolt. He said he wanted to “draw from the strength” of those still backing him. “Without a doubt we will defeat the conspiracy, which is nearing its end,” he said, in a deliberate and unusually casual tone. Yesterday it was reported by top Russian officials that NATO was planning “direct military intervention” in Syria and suggested the alliance may set up a no-fly zone and dispatch Turkish troops into Syria. “We are getting information that NATO members and some Persian Gulf States, operating according to the Libya scenario, intend to move from indirect intervention in Syrian affairs to direct military intervention,” Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Kremlin security body said in an interview published in Russia’s Kommersant newspaper on Thursday. Patrushev, a Kremlin hawk who used to run the FSB security service, the Russian successor agency to the KGB, went on to claim that the real reason Syria was coming under so much international pressure to end a brutal crackdown on the opposition was largely geopolitical. “Syria has not become an object of interest for a new coalition of the willing in itself,” he said. “The plan is to punish Damascus not so much for repressing the opposition as for its unwillingness to sever its friendly relations with Tehran.” A spokesman for NATO said Patrushev’s comments were wide of the mark however. “There is no discussion of a NATO role with respect to Syria,” said Carmen Romero, the spokesman, pointing out that Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO’s Secretary General, had previously stated that the alliance had “no intention whatsoever” of intervening. Still the lines are being drawn between Russia, the US and NATO. Keep in mind that Russia has a large naval supply and maintenance base at the Syrian port of Tartus, its only footprint in the Mediterranean. Also, Russia is one of the Assad regime’s main arms suppliers, and stands to lose lucrative arms deals if it falls. Can an explosion of the Middle East and possibly WWIII be far off?

“For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:17

The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic indicator made famous by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists since its inception in 1947, was moved Tuesday from six minutes to five minutes before midnight as a warning about nuclear dangers and climate change. The nuclear concerns, of course, are those of the Middle East where Iran continues their saber-raddling and threats to close off the Persian Gulf. One reason for this advance of the clock was the report coming out of Iran that Tehran is preparing an underground test of a one-kiloton nuclear device during 2012, much like the test carried out by North Korea in 2006. Underground facilities are under construction in great secrecy behind the noise and fury raised by the start of advanced uranium enrichment at Iran’s fortified, subterranean Fordo site near Qom. Iranian sources stress, however, that Tehran does not intend to wait for the next swearing-in of a US President in January 2013, if Barak Obama is returned for a second term or replaced by a Republican figure, before moving on to a nuclear test. Iran’s Islamic leaders have come to the conclusion from the Bush and Obama presidencies that America is a paper tiger and sure to shrink from attacking their nuclear program — especially while the West is sunk in profound economic distress. According to Washington sources this assessment is not true, that Obama considers the risk of permitting a nuclear-armed Iran to be greater than the risks of military action. Monday, Jan. 9th, top administration officials said that developing a nuclear weapon would cross a red line and precipitate a US strike. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated: “If Iran takes the step to develop a nuclear weapon or blocking the Strait of Hormuz, they’re going to be stopped.” He was repeating the warnings of the past month made by himself and Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey. Meanwhile, the London Times is quoting the Institute for National Security Studies as saying Israel believes Iran may become a full-fledged nuclear power within one year’s time. Israel has so far maintained it will do all within its power to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities, but has shifted its position following recent United Nations’ reports, according to the Times. The UN atomic agency said Monday that Iran is now enriching uranium at a new site in a hard-to-bomb mountain bunker, in a move set to stoke Western suspicions further that Tehran wants nuclear weapons. It is now being reported that within 48 hours after Iran began advanced uranium-enrichment in the well-fortified Fordo bunker near Tehran, Professor Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, Deputy Director of Iran’s first uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, was killed earlier today by a bomb placed on his car. At the same time US Navy and Air Force planners are busy preparing for an imminent operation to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to all international shipping despite Iran’s threat to close it. Through both the White House and the Pentagon the US has made it clear that it is resolved to bring all its naval and air power to bear on ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remains open. The question now is what will be the cost and will Obama get America into another drawn-out war!

“Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his own territory.” Isaiah 56:11